Former members of staff at Clerys have welcomed a report which says transactions such as those preceding the sudden closure of the department store last year should be illegal.
Gerry Markey, who worked at the store on Dublin’s O’Connell Street for 30 years, said he was “absolutely delighted” with the outcome of the report from Labour Court chairman Kevin Duffy and company law lawyer Nessa Cahill.
He said its recommendations come too late for Clerys staff but should ensure that what happened to them “can’t be done to other people”.
He described the treatment of the workers at the hands of the new owners as “immoral”. He added that the plan to close had been arranged well in advance but no consultation was carried out with members of staff “before the plug was pulled on us” last June.
The Justice for Clerys Workers campaign group said: “The laws in this country have been written to protect business interests. The goal of our campaign is to prevent it from ever happening to workers again.”
Outrage
Clerys is owned by Natrium, which bought it for €29 million hours before the store was shut. The closure caused outrage after the store’s 130 staff and 300 concession workers were sacked with no notice or redundancy.
The former workers continue to protest outside the closed department store on Dublin’s O’Connell street once a month in an an attempt to secure a meeting with the new owners.
Mr Markey said about 25 to 30 of the former workers will turn up for the protest on any given month. Members of the group are due to meet Siptu officials on Monday.
Some of them, including Mr Markey, have since found new jobs or entered further education. But others, especially those who may have been close to retirement age when the store closed, have not found work and remain on social welfare.
A number of proposals have been advanced in the Duffy Cahill report including that employees would have the opportunity for consultation of at least 30 days before collective redundancies took place whether the company was insolvent or not.
In a situation where the right to a 30-day consultation is not respected, compensation for workers should be increased from four weeks’ pay to two years’ pay, says the report.
